May 26, 2011

Zuckerberg: Facebook Has No Plans For Children Under 13

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday that the social network has no plans to open the service up to children under the age of 13.

Facebook operates policies around the world not to register children under a certain age. The age varies by country, but is typically around 13.

"We're not trying to work on the ability for people under the age of 13 to sign up," Zuckerberg said when asked about the issue at the e-G8 Internet forum in Paris Wednesday.

He said his comments made at an education conference last week about regulations making it difficult for children to sign up for Facebook had been taken out of context.

He said the complexity of protecting children online meant the question was not a priority for the company.

"That's just not top of the list of things for us to figure out right now," said Zuckerberg. "Some time in the future, I think it makes sense to explore that, but we're not working on it right now."

He began the on-stage interview by batting away a question about Facebook's plans to go public with the answer: "Not yet."

According to market research firm eMarketer, Facebook is expected to generate about $4 billion in advertising revenue in 2011, up from $1.86 billion a year earlier.

Zuckerberg also played down the role his social network played in revolutions that have rocked countries like Tunisia to Egypt to Libya.

"It's not a Facebook thing, it's an Internet thing," he said when asked about Facebook's part in the so-called Arab Spring. "I think Facebook was neither necessary nor sufficient for any of those things to happen."